Random Quest
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Random Quest is a science fiction short story by John Wyndham.
It was included in his 1961 collection Consider Her Ways, although the stories were written over a period of several years.
It has been filmed three times.
- 1969: Episode Random Quest, in the third series of Out of the Unknown. The episode has been lost.[1]
- 1971: Quest for Love starring Joan Collins, Tom Bell, and Denholm Elliott.
- 2006: The BBC has adapted the story for television, retaining the original title. This version stars Samuel West and was first broadcast on BBC Four in November 2006.[2]
[edit] Plot summary
The story is written and set in the 1950s and the hero is a man who wakes after a laboratory accident to find himself in a parallel universe. The parallel universe is similar to ours but there was a divergence in the late 1920s. In the parallel world Hitler never came to power and the Second World War never happened. The hero finds himself in the body of his counterpart in the parallel universe. As the story unfolds, he meets some old friends who have different partners, and at one point is taken aback to meet someone who was killed in the war. His counterpart has a rather troubled relationship with his wife Ottilie. Our protagonist falls in love with Ottilie and spends several weeks rekindling the relationship, overcoming Ottilie's initial distrust and residual hurt. Our hero is distressed to find himself, suddenly and without warning, transported back to his own world leaving Ottilie behind.
Our hero then begins his search for Ottilie's counterpart in our own world, convinced that they are soul mates and meant to be together. All he has is her name, and after finding there is no record of her at Catherine House (the English Births, Deaths and Marriages Register) he writes to and visits every possible relative to try to locate Miss Ottilie Harshom. After reaching the end of his list, something that the 4th last Harshom said gives him inspiration to try a different path and he eventually finds his true love, only her first name isn't Ottilie and her surname isn't Harshom. After their wedding in Canada, our hero brings his new wife to England to be introduced to her long lost grandfather.
